Why A Content Strategy Should Come Before Social Media

Content Before Social Media

So you just opened a new restaurant or started a new brand and you can’t wait to share it with the world!

You start up your page and put out photos of all your amazing products everyday, and the fans start pouring in.

But soon you realise that all the photos you took for the opening press release have already been used.

So you decide to take a day off social media, then a week then a month.

Eventually your once thriving page is reduced to a ghost town with no content, and people have moved on.

That’s what tends to happen if you don’t plan for content!

Keeping your page active with posts and interactions are an essential part of running a successful page, you need to build a content strategy and engine.

Some of our clients have raised concerns that content is expensive and difficult to produce! There’s little to no ROI!

So you’re not alone if you feel that way.

I’ve talked a little about the ROI of content marketing before, but one of the main things you should consider if you’re in that boat is that content is a long term strategy, and it’s not going to net you quick wins off the bat.

Ultimately, content marketing is about building a relationship with your customers and clients so they trust you.

And like every relationship worth having, it requires time, patience and effort to blossom.

Still not convinced? Here are 5 other reasons why you need to invest in content strategy before thinking about starting on that social media page or strategy.

1. Understand The Impact Your Content Has On Your Brand

When many of our clients first come to us, they are interested in getting the most interactions, comments, and most importantly, conversions.

They have also correctly deduced that contests and promotion posts tend to perform the best consistently so they feel like they have to do that.

But is that really the right move for brands looking for success on social media?

Plenty of brands splash flashy promotions and freebies in an effort to attract new customers, but unless you’re competing based on your low prices, you’re doing more damage to your brand than you think.

Pages like Watsons or myCK can do this constantly because low prices and affordability are part of the brand image, and people respond to that.

On the flipside, local blogshop turned retail player Love Bonito seldom pushes content advertising prices even though it may have made sense for them at the beginning when their main competitors were other blogshops.

What you’re doing on social media reflects on the brand and the perception the public has.

This is why it’s important to start with a proper content strategy before creating content you think might work based on research or whatever comes to mind.

Having a working strategy allows you to identify what trends and content will work in a way that enhances and amplifies your brand messaging and create content that satisfies your target audience.

In fact, bringing your brand messaging across to a wider audience should be a KPI for your social media efforts, more so than your conversions most of the time.

We’ve written about the role branding plays in social media and content before, so check it out if you want to learn more!

2. You Can Drive More Traffic To Your Site

While content and social media might not be able to drive you sales all the time, there’s still plenty of value to be gained by getting interactions and visits to your website.

First of all, getting people to your website exposes them more to your brand, and provides an opportunity to collect data like emails or phone numbers for lead generation.

But with powerful ad targeting tools and the Facebook pixel, you’ll be able to come up with some great strategies to get the most out of your marketing dollars.

Facebook pixel for example, lets you target customers who have visited your site or interacted with your posts.

This directly affects your advertising costs, because marketing to people who already know your brand will be more effective than marketing to someone completely new.

You can also do things like create lookalike audiences, which are a group of people on Facebook that share the same interests and demographics as your current fan base, allowing you to reach new fans at a more efficient rate.

But that all errs on being able to produce content that is good enough for people to click and interact with on a regular basis.

3. Get Long-term Free Search Traffic

We can’t talk about content without talking about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) these days!

Content helps you develop searchability in different facets of your target market and build that relationship early!

You’re going to need a strong backlog of content to build credibility within the system and rank on the right keywords.

But having content also allows you to build up some SEO for terms that might not directly associate with your brand.

Say you’re in the Jeweling business, and you’re targeting men looking for proposal rings.

Your obvious keywords to invest in are going to be “wedding ring” or “proposal ring” and so on.

But having content could allow you to develop a relationship with your customer even before he starts looking for a ring.

Perhaps an article about “Top 10 Spots In Singapore For A Romantic Proposal” or “Most Romantic Stunts For A Proposal” might catch his eye and score you some brand recognition early in the customer journey.

Articles like this tend to work well on social media and get plenty of shares from curious of like minded individuals to people jus tagging their friends for reference.

4. Social Media Is Transient, Content Is Forever

I know the point sounds like a warped tagline I stole from a commercial for diamond rings, but there’s actually a pretty solid analogy there!

A piece of good content is something you can flaunt and capture attention with all the time.

Social media posts disappear from news feeds over time and engagement dries up but content is something you can promote in a multitude of ways and most importantly, be found via search engines.

An evergreen piece of content can continue to draw value to you long after you created it.

About the Author

Nicholas Chen

With a background in the editorial industry, Nicholas has written for some of Singapore's leading web publications including The Smart Local and Tech in Asia. He now works with Clickr to provide clients with localised social media content solutions and strategies to fulfil business goals. He believes in providing users with high quality and relevant content through data-driven processes to deliver the best results for campaigns.
He believes in providing users with high quality and relevant content through data-driven processes to deliver the best results for campaigns.